Monday, January 30, 2017

Welcome! This week the word prompt is "track". This week the story "Reunited" continues. Thanks for stopping by. Scroll down for the link to return to Tuesday Tales or go to my website.

******************

Sipping
on a glass of Cabernet in her tony East Side apartment, Cassie rifled through
her mail. Boom! There it was. The answer to her problems.

She
ripped open the invitation. It was to her tenth high school reunion. That would
be the perfect place to reconnect with Mike. She picked up her cell.

“Angela?
Angela Faiola?”

“Yes?”

“It’s
Cassie. Cassie Newsome. Your high school classmate.”

“Oh! Of
course, of course. Cassie. How are you? Are you coming to the reunion?”

“Yes.
Are you making a list of people coming available?”

“We have
a Facebook group. If you’re looking to reconnect with someone, why don’t you
join?”

“I will.
Thanks.”

“If you
want to help out, we can always use another pair of hands.”

“I’d
love to help, but I’m launching a new program and my plate is full.”

“A new
program? On TV?”

“Yep.”

“How
exciting! I hope you’ll tell me all about it at the reunion.”

“Sure
will. Thanks.”

Cassie
hung up and sat back, She opened her laptop and went to Facebook. Looked like
it was going to be easier to connect with Mike than she thought. But convincing
him to go along with her plan was another story.

She
joined the group, then searched for Mike. His name was there. She added a post,
then called Ned.

“Hey,
baby. What’s up?”

“I’ve
got a way to get in touch with Mike.”

“Great!
The sooner the better. I’m working with Josh and Tina on locations for your
outings.”

“How
much time will I have to spend with him?”

“However
much it takes to make your reunion look real.”

“I’d
really rather be with you, working behind the scenes,” she said.

“We
talked about this. I thought we’d agreed that you and I would have to take a
little break. Just until the show is in the bag.”

Silence.

“Of
course, you won’t be with him twenty-four/seven. If you can sneak away and
spend the night with me, well –that’d be great.”

“Mike
won’t care. He wasn’t exactly in love with me,” she replied.

“Are you
sure? Nerds fall hard, babe. They just don’t know how to say it.”

She
chuckled. “Maybe. But that was forever ago.”

“When he
sees you again, well, just don’t fall for him, okay?”

She
laughed. “Like he could be any competition for you?”

“You
never know.”

“I’m
committed, Ned. You’re the one who’s only got one foot in. Not me.”

“That’s
not true. I’m giving everything I have to make this program work. It’s for us,
baby. Us. The success will belong to you and me. Do you understand?”

“I do.
Don’t like it much.”

“Don’t
be a whiner. We both have to make sacrifices. That’s the price of success. And
if this succeeds? We’ll be on track, rolling. I mean millions. And you can kiss
penny-pinching goodbye.”

She
sighed. What he said was true. They’d make out bigtime if the show caught on. Financial
security drove her, it’s what she had been working toward.

Leaving
her poor background behind had been Cassie’s motivation for working twelve hour
days to get ahead. She saved every cent she could, not taking taxis, buying her
fancy wardrobe on sale, and eating home every night.

Her goal
was so close. And to have a sexy, smart
man part of the package of success and freedom from fear of poverty was a huge
plus.

“Okay. I’ll
stop bitching,” she relented.

“That’s
my girl. Besides, a few days off won’t hurt us. We’re strong,” he said.

“Right.

“Goodnight,
babe.”

“’Night,
Ned.”

“Call me
after you connect with that guy.”

“I will.”

Cassie
hung up. She wondered why she didn’t feel happy. The plan was falling into
place.

Monday, January 23, 2017

Welcome! Thanks for stopping by. Because it's a picture prompt, the text can only be 300 words. I'm continuing with my story, Reunited. Scroll down to get back to Tuesday Tales and to my website.

********************

She sighed. The things she had to do to get Ned Collins to
commit. Was it worth it? Hell, she had two years of her life invested in him
and she wasn’t about to walk away now. Besides, once the deal was signed with
CEN, they’d be rolling in money. She could have a nice life.

Better than her mother. No waiting tables and taking in
laundry for Cassandra Newsome. No siree. She’d be rich, with a successful
husband, unlike her mother, deserted by her bum-of-a-husband and reduced to
desperation, trying to support her daughter. Cassie smiled. Mom always said you
could love a rich man as easy as a poor one. She was right.

****

Ned
treated her to a pancake breakfast after a night of love at his place. When she
returned home, she retired to her room and turned on her laptop. First she had
to find Mike Taylor. She blew her bangs off her face. There must be ten million
Mike Taylor’s in the U.S. Then she remembered his middle name –Alston. The kids
teased him about it all the time, eventually giving him the nickname of M.A.T.

She
began her search on white pages. Then she dug out the mailing she got about her
high school reunion. It was happening in September. Perfect timing! She’d have
to make sure he was there. She finally located him in Washington, D.C. A smile
spread. Cassie Newsome was good at what
she did, she was a winner. Not like her parents. She’d grab that brass ring and
hold on to it for dear life.

She
undressed and got into bed, but she wasn’t tired. Her mind worked at a hundred
miles an hour about how she could meet him, rope him in and get him to play
along.

“There’s still us, baby. Just do this for me and I promise
you, the minute you and that jerk break up officially, in the press and online,
we’ll get hitched.”

“Really? I have to go through all this just to get you to
commit?”

“You know I love you. I never would’ve come to you with this
idea if I didn’t trust you.”

“Hey! This was my idea. I came to you.”

“Whatever. I sold it to Sanderson.”

“True. You could sell anything to anyone.”

“Can I sell this to you? It’s our dream. We’ll hit it big and
hit the gravy train.”

“Hold your horses. What about Mike?”

A lascivious grin widened Ned’s face. “Seduce him.”

“You want me to sleep with him to get him to agree?”

“Nah, you’re right. Promise him a bonus.”

“A bonus?”

“I’ll think of something. A…a..? I know! A honeymoon trip!
Yeah, and all expenses paid trip to somewhere in the Caribbean. He can take
anyone he wants, except you. We’ll do it around Christmas time. Perfect.”

“That’s a very romantic time of the year.”

“Almost as good as Valentine’s Day,” Ned said.

“We could get married on Valentine’s Day,” she offered.

“Fine. Rope in Mike. Get this rolling and when the show ends
and you two break up, we’ll tie the knot in February. Does that work for you?”

“It’s a little dishonest.”

“Not really. We’re actually reuniting you two.”

“But it’s fake. We’re not looking to make it permanent or
anything.”

“So what? Who’ll know? No one. Meantime we’ll have signed a
sweet deal and can find another couple to divert the attention of you two
breaking up.”

Monday, January 9, 2017

Howdy! I'm back. I took a short hiatus to write a holiday story that was eating at me, called The House-Sitter's Christmas for the entire month of December. But I'm back on track with Tuesday Tales now. Reunited is a brand new story, simmering on the back burner for now. I'll be posting it, bit-by-bit here, on Tuesday Tales for a while. Thanks for stopping by.

REUNITED

Cassandra Newsome paced in front of the Starbucks on
Fifty-third Street, waiting for a call from her business partner, and
boyfriend, Ned Collins. He was meeting with the head of programming for Cable
Entertainment Network, CEN, the hottest network on television.She was shocked when he’d agreed to meet with Ned to discuss
the idea for their reality television series, Reunited. The call came. Cassie’s hands shook as she answered.

“I have good news and bad news. Which do you want first?”

“Just tell me what happened,” she said, going inside and
sitting at the counter. Cassie ordered a cup of coffee while she listened.

Ned cleared his throat, then did his best imitation of the hotshot executive:

“We love
your idea. Bringing together people who once loved each other and got separated
for some reason is intriguing, I grant you. But the half dozen couples you’re
ready to shoot are not in our target demographic.”

“Target demographic?” she asked.

Ned went on: “In plain English, they’re too damn old. No one
gives a rat’s ass if a couple of people in their forties or fifties get it
on. In fact, some might consider it obscene.”

“But these people’s stories’ll make viewers cry,” Cassie said.

“I don’t give a flying fuck if the audience cries. I only
care that they buy our advertisers products. I can’t see hot new car
advertising on your show. More like commercials for Viagra or nursing homes.”

“But…” she tried to interrupt.

“We get all those advertisers on our daytime shows. The game
shows and judge shows. Hell, that’s where that audience is. In prime time,
you’re talking the 18-34 demographic. And the last thing they want to watch are
wrinkled people sucking face.”

“So if we get a couple that’s younger? Would that appeal to
him?” She asked.

Ned continued: “If you can find a couple in that age bracket,
then we have a deal. I love the premise. Real heart tugging crap. The network president’s gonna love it, and especially his wife. But get me that young, hot,
sexy couple who can’t wait to hop into bed, and you’ll have a winner. Sorry.
I’ve got another appointment at four. Call my secretary when you’ve got this
glitch fixed and we’ll set up another meeting.”

“Really?,” she said, frowning.

“Meet me at the bar in
the St. Regis. I need a drink,” Ned said.

She pushed through the door and joined him. They headed toward a dark room. Sure enough, it was a bar. They were
seated at a small table in the empty room. Three o’clock, a little early for
the cocktail set.

“I’m not going back to Dickwad and Dickwad, Cassie,” Ned
said, sipping his scotch on the rocks.

“I hate advertising, too, but if we can’t get a deal, we
don’t have a choice.

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About Tuesday Tales

I started writing nonfiction about fifteen years ago. I've had seven nonfiction books published. In January, 2010 I started writing fiction, culminating in my first published work, "Now and Forever 1, a Love Story".

I have written two sequels and one has been published, Now and Forever 2, the Book of Danny, by Secret Cravings Publishing. I just finished my first book of just romance with no mystery plot.